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THE DECLINE AND FALL

chap. The virtues and the reputation of the new em-perors justified the most sanguine hopes of theTi.eir dm- Romans. The various nature of their talentsracters. geeme( j t 0 appropriate to each his peculiar de-partmentof peaceandwar, without leaving roomfor jealous emulation. Balbinus was an admiredorator , a poet of distinguished fame, and a wisemagistrate, who had exercised with innocenceand applause the civil jurisdiction in almost allthe interior provinces of the empire. His hirthw r as noble, e his fortune affluent, his manners li-beral and affable. In him the love of pleasurewas corrected by a sense of dignity, nor had thehabits of ease deprived him of a capacity forbusiness. The mind of Maximus was formedin a rougher mould. By his valour and abili-ties he had raised himself from the meanest ori-gin to the first employments of the state andarmy. His victories over the Sarmatians andthe Germans , the austerity of his life, and therigid impartiality of his justice, whilst he wasprefect of the city, commanded the esteem of apeople, whose affections were engaged in favourof the more amiable Balbinus . The two col-

e He was descended from Cornelius Balbus , a noble Spaniard, andthe adopted son of Theophanes, the Greek historian. Balbus obtainedthe freedom of Rome by the favour of Pornpey, and preserved it bythe eloquence of Cicero (see Orat. pro Cornel. Balbo). The friend-ship of C%sar (to whom he rendered the most important secret servicesin the civil war) raised him to the consulship and the pontificate, ho-nours never yet possessed by a stranger. The nephew of this Baibastriumphed over the Garamantes . See Dictionnaire de Bayle, an motBalbusy where he distinguishes the several persons of that name, andrectifies, with his usual accuracy, the mistakes of former writers con-cerning them.